Index



(Model) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E. N. HEATH.

Index. v A

No. 240,825. Patented May 3,1881.

gel 6702077 NPETERS, PHDTO-LIYILIOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON. D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ELROY N. HEATH, or WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

INDEX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,825, dated May 3, 1881.

Application filed March 21, 1881. (ModeL) I Toali whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELROY N. HEATH, of

Wakefield, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indexes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification. Figure 1 is a transcript of a portion of the index-table, being that appertaining to the first twelve letters of the alphabet. Fig. 2 is a representation and transcript of two adjoining pages of the index-book, showing the division of the two pages into ten folios, and the numerical index on the right-hand edge of the book.

The object of the invention is to provide, for the use of accountants and others who require to refer frequently to a large number of names or other matters, a convenient combined index book and table, by means of which any name or subject may be found with the utmost rapidity, and the titles so evenly distribntedwill usually be filled in all parts nearly at the same time, and consequently last much longer than a book of the same size arranged in the ordinary manner.

' The nature of my invention consists in the peculiar division of the pages into folios, and the mode ofnumbering them, in connection with thepecnliar construction of the table for the ready use of guide-letters to indicate the folio in which the desired name or title is indexed,

all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that in making the index-table I assign to each letter of the alphabet five vertical columns (indicated by the five vowels A E I O U) and eight horizontal columns, (marked by twenty-four letters of the alphabet, X and Z being omitted,) arranged in groups of three in regular order, as shown.

In Fig. 2 is seen my method of dividing the pages into folios, and numbering the folios and arranging a numerical index on the ed ge; The arrangement and numbering of the folios is decimal, there being ten folios on each two adjoining pages, the first two pages containing folios 0 to 9; the second, folios 10 to 19; the third, folios 20 to 29, and so on throughout the book. The units of the numbers marking the folios occupy the same locations on every page, the digits from 0 to 4 being placed in their order on the left-hand page, and'those from 5 to 9being placed in their order on the right-hand page, as shown in Fig. 2. This uniformity of location enables the user to find instantly the folio ending with any given digit on any page. Any folio, for example, whose number ends with the digit 0 will be found at the top of the left-hand page, while any folio whose number ends with 9 will be found at the bottom of the right-handpage. The numbering on the edge, in the present example, extends from 1 to 39, the book being intended to index four hundred names. The units, being unnecessary, are omitted in these edge-numbers, as 5 answers for folios 50 to 59, 6 for folios 60.to 69, and 39 for folios 390 to 399.

In the distribution of the space in the book between the different letters of the alphabet, I have been guided by the ratio established by general experience of the comparative frequeney with which the several letters are apt to occur, as the initials of a large and miscellaneous collection of surnames, and the great subdii'ision which I make under letters of mostfrequent occurrence tends to equalize the num ber of names in the several folios throughout the book, and thus occupy the spaces allotted to the several letters with a near approach to uniformity, making the index last much longer in proportion to the number of name-lines it contains than books which are destitute of this feature.

Such being the construction of the table and the arrangement, ruling, and numbering of the book, the mode of using the index is as follows: I use as guide-letters the initial of the name, the first vowel following the initial and the terminal letter. To index the name of Bronsons, for example, the guide-letters are B-o-s. Under letter B we find the vowel O, and-follow down that column till we come to the letter S, where we find folio 50. Turning to the page marked by the edge-number 5, we find Bronsons entered in folio 50, which, from its terminal digit 0, we know to be the upper lefthaud corner of the left-hand page. To find the name Canada We use the guide-letters G-a-a. Under letter Owe find vowel A, and the terminal a in the side column, where the number 59 appears. Turning to the ed ge-number 5, We find folio 59 at the bottom of the right-hand page, and the name Canada entered andindexed. Any other name is entered and indexed in the same way and found by the same method.

I claim as my invention In combination with an index-table having the vertical vowel-columns and horizontal terminal-letter columns and reference-numbers,

as described and shown, an index-book Whose pages are divided into'five folios each, numr 5 bered in a uniform manner, according to a decimal arrangement, and piovided with a numerical side index, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth. v

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 20 my own invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ELROY N. HEATH.

Witnesses:

L. O. YOUNG, CHAS. F. STANsBURY. 

